The IRS now has a tool to help people who have to repay the First-Time Homebuyer Credit.

It allows you to look up your balance and more on our website. It's called the First-Time Homebuyer Credit Account Look-up tool. You’ll need to provide your social security number, date of birth and complete address.

The tool will give you the balance of your First-Time Homebuyer Credit, the amount you paid back to date, the total amount of the credit you received and your annual installment repayment amount. And you can print the account webpage for your tax records.

For those of you who purchased your home in 2008, as you know, the credit is similar to a no-interest loan and must be repaid in 15 equal annual installments that began with your 2010 tax return.

Also, for those of you who sold your home or stopped using it as your main home, you may have to repay the entire credit regardless of whether you purchased your home in 2008, 2009 or 2010.

If you don’t know if you need to repay the First-Time Homebuyer Credit, just get a copy of the instructions for Form 5405, which is the form for the First-Time Homebuyer Credit.

Or better yet, use our online Look-Up tool, which is free, available around the clock and allows you to check your repayment balance.